{"id":242,"date":"2006-06-10T12:17:27","date_gmt":"2006-06-10T12:17:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.okinawa.com\/blog\/?p=242"},"modified":"2006-06-10T12:17:27","modified_gmt":"2006-06-10T12:17:27","slug":"shurijo-castle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.okinawa.com\/blog\/travel\/naha-guide\/shurijo-castle","title":{"rendered":"Shurijo Castle"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Shurijo Castle, pride of the Okinawan people.  Shurijo was the control tower of the Shuri Monarchy, which ruled over the Ryukyu Islands and expanded its diplomatic and trading links to China, Japan, Korea and the countries of Southeast Asia.  This was also the setting for developments in Ryukyuan culture, which integrated cultural influences from these countries.<br \/><!--more--><\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><font size=\"6\" face=\"Arial Narrow\" color=\"#990000\"><strong>SHURIJO<\/strong><\/font> <br \/>\n<font size=\"6\" face=\"Arial Narrow\" color=\"#000000\">the kingdom of  the<\/font> <br \/>\n<font size=\"6\" face=\"Arial Narrow\" color=\"#000000\">ryukyus reborn<\/font>  \n<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p align=\"center\">\n<\/p>\n<div align=\"center\">\n<table width=\"100%\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\" border=\"0\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.okinawa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/images\/images\/omoro-soshi.GIF\" align=\"images\/shuri.JPG\" title=\"images\/shuri-1.JPG\" alt=\"images\/shuri-1.JPG\"\/><font face=\"Times New Roman,Times\"><strong><\/strong><\/font><\/p>\n<p><font face=\"Times New Roman,Times\"><strong><em>Shiyori mori geraete<\/em><\/strong><\/font>          <br \/>\n            <font face=\"Times New Roman,Times\"><strong><em>Geraetaru          kiyoraya<\/em><\/strong><\/font> <br \/>\n            <font face=\"Times New Roman,Times\"><strong><em>Kami shimo no<\/em><\/strong><\/font>          <br \/>\n            <font face=\"Times New Roman,Times\"><strong><em>Yo soroeru          gusuku<\/em><\/strong><\/font> <br \/>\n            <font face=\"Times New Roman,Times\"><strong><em>Madama mori          geraete<\/em><\/strong><\/font> <br \/>\n            <font face=\"Times New Roman,Times\"><strong><em>Geraetaru          kiyoraya<\/em><\/strong><\/font> <\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><font color=\"#408080\">Build the palace at <\/font><font color=\"#64157d\"><strong><em>Shuri<\/em><\/strong><\/font> <br \/>\n            <font color=\"#408080\">How beauteous!<\/font> <br \/>\n            <font color=\"#408080\">A <\/font><font color=\"#64157d\">castle<\/font><font color=\"#408080\"> to unify the land<\/font> <br \/>\n            <font color=\"#408080\">To the north and to the south<\/font>          <br \/>\n            <font color=\"#408080\">Build the sacred precincts<\/font> <br \/>\n            <font color=\"#408080\">How beauteous!<\/font> <\/p>\n<p><font size=\"2\" face=\"Times New Roman,Times\" color=\"#000000\">Excerpt from &quot;Omoro-soshi,&quot; an anthology of sacred and ceremonial songs.  These songs came from an age when people held the gods in awe and believed that human deeds were influenced by divine providence.  Omoro, a series of songs expressing the spirit of prayer and devotion are compiled in the &quot;Omoro-soshi.&quot;<\/font>          \n            <\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<p align=\"center\">\n<\/p>\n<div align=\"center\">\n<table width=\"80%\" cellspacing=\"10\" border=\"0\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p align=\"center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.okinawa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/images\/images\/shuri.JPG\" align=\"images\/shuri-1.JPG\" title=\"\" alt=\"\"\/> <\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><font size=\"2\" color=\"#000000\">Shurijo Castle, pride of the Okinawan people.  Shurijo was the control tower of the Shuri Monarchy, which ruled over the Ryukyu Islands and expanded its diplomatic and trading links to China, Japan, Korea and the countries of Southeast Asia.  This was also the setting for developments in Ryukyuan culture, which integrated cultural influences from these countries.<\/font><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<hr \/>\n<div align=\"center\">\n<table width=\"80%\" cellspacing=\"10\" border=\"0\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p align=\"center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.okinawa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/images\/images\/shuri-1.JPG\" align=\"\" title=\"\" alt=\"\"\/> <\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td bgcolor=\"#ffccff\"><font size=\"6\" face=\"Arial Narrow\" color=\"#990000\"><strong>in awe&#8230;<\/strong><\/font><\/p>\n<p><font size=\"2\" face=\"Arial,Helvetica\">If I had only but one          word to describe the <\/font><font size=\"2\" face=\"Arial,Helvetica\" color=\"#990000\"><strong>Shuri Castle<\/strong><\/font><font size=\"2\" face=\"Arial,Helvetica\">, it would be <\/font><font size=\"2\" face=\"Arial,Helvetica\" color=\"#33ccff\"><strong>awe-inspiring.<\/strong><\/font><font size=\"2\" face=\"Arial,Helvetica\">Perhaps the most          anticipated stop on our tour, <\/font><font size=\"2\" face=\"Arial,Helvetica\" color=\"#660000\"><strong>Shuri          Castle<\/strong><\/font><font size=\"2\" face=\"Arial,Helvetica\">          struck me as nothing less than <\/font><font size=\"2\" face=\"Arial,Helvetica\" color=\"#00cc00\"><strong><em>spectacular<\/em><\/strong><\/font><font size=\"2\" face=\"Arial,Helvetica\">.  As we walked through the castle, I could imagine the royal court of the Ryukyus inhabiting its beautifully ornate rooms.<\/font><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<hr \/>\n<p align=\"center\">\n<\/p>\n<p><font size=\"2\" face=\"Arial,Helvetica\">After my first visit to Shuri Castle I was able to really appreciate the richness of the Okinawan culture as well as the tenacity of the Okinawan people.  Shurijo was reduced to rumble in the Battle of Okinawa (World War II) but through the studies of written documentation and photographs, the castle was completely restored and opened to the public to preserve the cultural and historical significance of the site.  Shurijo was partially re-opened on November 3, 1992 as they continued reconstruction of the park. <br \/>\n<\/font><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Shurijo Castle, pride of the Okinawan people. Shurijo was the control tower of the Shuri Monarchy, which ruled over the Ryukyu Islands and expanded its diplomatic and trading links to China, Japan, Korea and the countries of Southeast Asia. This &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.okinawa.com\/blog\/travel\/naha-guide\/shurijo-castle\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-242","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-naha-guide"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.okinawa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.okinawa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.okinawa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.okinawa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.okinawa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=242"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.okinawa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.okinawa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=242"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.okinawa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=242"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.okinawa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=242"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}